This website provides information on the grave risk to the BC tree fruit industry from the accidental introduction of a foreign invasive pest, the Apple Maggot.

If you are looking for other information on the BC tree fruit industry, check out the links at the bottom of this page.


Listen to the Public Service Announcement on Apple Maggot

What is the risk?
Several insect pests, but especially the Apple Maggot, are located in the Lower Mainland and not in the commercial tree fruit growing area in the Okanagan. 

  • Apple Maggot directly attacks fruit, making it brown, mushy, and inedible.
  • Key fruits attacked are apples, crab apples, cherries, pears, plums, and apricots.
  • If introduced to the Okanagan, Apple Maggot would have a devastating impact on the Okanagan-Similkameen apple industry, with current annual sales of $130 million.
  • The Okanagan-Similkameen growers have several programs to minimize pesticide use.  The Similkameen Valley is renowned for its organic production of tree fruits.  Introduction of a new apple pest would reverse our progress in reducing pesticide use.

Why is transporting apples a problem?
Tree fruit, including apples and pears, grown in the Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island, could be infected with Apple Maggot.  Transporting the fruit to the Okanagan would bring this new pest to the Okanagan.  Another source of infestation is the transportation of pupae in the soil around the base of infested trees, including apple, crabapple, pear, quince, and hawthorn trees.

Introduction of the pest to the Okanagan-Similkameen would

  • Require a lot of time to take actions to control the pest (monitoring, pesticide application, increased grading activity),
  • Cost millions of dollars in lost fruit,
  • Affect our environment as pesticides would be used to control the pest, and
  • Add a significant challenge for organic production.

For this reason, there is a quarantine in place to prevent apple maggot from being introduced to the commercial apple growing region in the Okanagan.

What is a quarantine?
A federal regulation allows the government to set up a quarantine area.  Movement of plant or animal products into or out of the area can be controlled, in order to prevent the spread of the disease or pest.

The apple maggot quarantine says it is illegal to move non-commercial tree fruit out of the designated quarantine areas.  The areas include all of the Fraser Valley, Vancouver Island and Coastal BC.  Restrictions also apply to 22 of 39 counties in Washington State.

How could fruit from a few apples grown in my backyard be a risk to the Okanagan tree fruit industry?
Apple Maggot is spread when larvae in infested fruit or pupae in the soil around infested trees is transported to an area that does not yet have Apple Maggot.

  • Apple Maggot is spread mostly by people transporting apples from infested backyard apple trees to non-infested areas of the province.
  • There is some spread from abandoned or poorly maintained orchards.
  • Natural spread is a slow process because the adult fly doesn’t fly very far.
The natural geographic barriers (the mountains) protect the Okanagan-Similkameen from the natural spread of Apple Maggot.  If Apple Maggot is introduced, it is almost a certainty that it will be done as a result of a careless or unknowing person transporting infested fruit or nursery stock to the Okanagan.

Summary
The purpose of the quarantine is to protect the commercial tree fruit growing areas in the Okanagan and Similkameen Valleys.  Part of our strategy is to inform and make clear to people that transporting fruit grown in the backyard in the Lower Mainland poses a serious economic and environmental risk.  Your help in preventing the introduction of Apple Maggot to the Okanagan-Similkameen is truly appreciated by the commercial fruit growers of the area.  Thank you for your support!

Website Links for further information

Apple Maggot – detailed information

British Columbia Ministry of Agriculture Apple Maggot Factsheet
http://www.al.gov.bc.ca/cropprot/applemaggot.htm

Canadian Food Inspection Agency Apple Maggot Factsheet
http://www.inspection.gc.ca/english/plaveg/pestrava/rhapom/rhapome.shtml

Garden Friends and Foes – Apple Maggot
www.whatcom.wsu.edu/ag/homehort/pest/r_pomenella.htm

Protecting backyard apple trees from Apple Maggot
http://cru.cahe.wsu.edu/CEPublications/eb1928/EB1928.pdf

Tree Fruit Industry in BC

BC Tree Fruits Ltd. – the broker of apples that are packed and stored by cooperatives.
www.bctree.com

BC Fruit Growers’ Association – a business association representing commercial tree fruit growers in the Okanagan-Similkameen Valleys
www.bcfga.com

Direct Farm Marketing in the Fraser Valley
www.bcfarmfresh.com

Okanagan-Kootenay Sterile Insect Release Program
www.oksir.org

Acknowledgements
The members of the BC Fruit Growers’ Association wish to express gratitude to the following agencies for supporting the initiative to protect the Okanagan and Similkameen Valleys from the introduction of Apple Maggot:

  • Ministry of Transportation
  • Ministry of Agriculture and Lands
  • Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA)
  • Fraser Valley Farm Direct Marketing Association (FVFDMA)